6 OCTOBER 1866, Page 24

The Church of the Spirit of Life in Jesus Christ;

One Fold and One Shepherd A Sermon. By John Hamilton Thom. (Whitfield.)—A sermon of rare beauty and depth on Christian realism as a basis of Church unity, that is, on the unity which is given by common rest in divine realities, rather than in mere concord of opinions. Mr. Thom is a Unitarian, and is not therefore, as it seems to us, consistent in applying the term 'realism' to the Christian side of his Church's faith. Unita- rians may be realists so far as they rest in a common divine Father, instead of a mere BO of opinions about a divine Father ; but their unity in Christ, who is, in their belief, an absent though immortal human person, can only be their agreement in an opinion concerning Christ. In Him himself they cannot rest, because He is not, as they believe, a reality present with them. Mr. Thom preaches therefore Theistic realism of a Christian type, not what we should think indefinitely higher, Christian realism.